2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was a single-elimination tournament that involved 68 teams playing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 19, 2013 and concluded with the championship game on April 8, 2013 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The Louisville Cardinals defeated the Michigan Wolverines (the youngest team in the field of 68 teams) in the championship game by a score of 82-76. This was the 75th edition of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, dating back to 1939. Selection Sunday, when CBS announced the participants and tournament brackets, occurred on March 17, 2013. Atlantic Sun Conference champion Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, a relatively new school that held its first classes in 1997 and became Division I postseason eligible in 2011, made their first ever appearance in the tournament, winning two games to become the first ever #15 seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Two other teams also earned their first ever NCAA Tournament victory: Ivy League champion Harvard and MEAC champion North Carolina A&T. Liberty became the first 20-loss team in five years to earn an NCAA bid, having finished their season with five consecutive wins to secure the Big South championship and its automatic qualification. For the first time since 1977, the ten-member basketball selection committee did not choose a single NCAA team from the state of Texas for the tournament. By winning the West Region, Wichita State became the first #9 seed and first Missouri Valley Conference team to reach the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last #9 seed to reach the Final Four was Penn, and the last MVC team to do so was Indiana State, both in 1979. Syracuse also reached the Final Four. Tournament procedure A total of 68 teams were invited to the 2013 tournament. Thirty of the 31 automatic bids teams were given to the program that wins their conference tournament. The remaining automatic bid went to the Ivy League regular season champion since they do not hold a conference tournament. The remaining 37 teams were granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. Eight teams—the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams—played in the First Four (the successor to what had been popularly known as "play-in games" through the 2010 tournament). The winners of these games advance to the main draw of the tournament. The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68. 2013 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues ;First Four (March 19 and 20) *University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio ;Second and third rounds *March 21 and 23 **The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan (Host: Oakland University) **Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky) **EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah) **HP Pavilion, San Jose, California (Host: West Coast Conference) *March 22 and 24 **University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton) **Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin) **Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference) **Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Host: Temple University) ;Regional sites *March 28 and 30 **'East Regional', Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University) **'West Regional', Staples Center, Los Angeles, California (Host: Pepperdine University) *March 29 and 31 **'Midwest Regional', Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts:IUPUI, Horizon League) **'South Regional', Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas (Host: Big 12 Conference) ;Final Four - Atlanta (April 6 and 8) *Georgia Dome (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology) Qualified teams Automatic qualifiers The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament (except for the Ivy League, whose regular-season champion received the automatic bid). Tournament seeds Brackets * – Denotes overtime period Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern ''Daylight Time]] (UTC-04)'' First Four – Dayton, Ohio Midwest Regional – Indianapolis, Indiana Midwest Regional all-tournament team Regional all-tournament team: Seth Curry, Duke; Gorgui Dieng, Louisville; Mason Plumlee, Duke; Peyton Siva, Louisville Regional most outstanding player: Russ Smith, Louisville South Regional – Arlington, Texas South Regional all-tournament team Regional all-tournament team: Mitch McGary, Michigan; Ben McLemore, Kansas; Mike Rosario, Florida; Nik Stauskas, Michigan Regional most outstanding player: Trey Burke, Michigan East Regional – Washington, D.C. East Regional all-tournament team Regional all-tournament team: Vander Blue, Marquette; C. J. Fair, Syracuse; Davante Gardner, Marquette; James Southerland, Syracuse Regional most outstanding player: Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse West Regional – Los Angeles, California West Regional all-tournament team Regional all-tournament team: Carl Hall, Wichita State; Mark Lyons, Arizona; LaQuinton Ross, Ohio State; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State Regional most outstanding player: Malcolm Armstead, Wichita State Final Four – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia During the Final Four round, the champion of the top overall top seed's region will play against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region, and the champion of the second overall top seed's region will play against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region. Louisville (placed in the Midwest Regional) was selected as the top overall seed, and Gonzaga (in the West Regional) was named as the final top seed. Thus, the Midwest champion played the West Champion in one semifinal game, and the South Champion faced the East Champion in the other semifinal game. Wichita State surprised the college basketball world by reaching the Final Four from the West region. They lost to Louisville in the first semifinal game. Michigan defeated Syracuse 61-56 in the second semifinal. Final Four all-tournament team Final Four all-tournament team: Spike Albrecht, Michigan; Trey Burke, Michigan; Mitch McGary, Michigan; Cleanthony Early, Wichita State; Peyton Siva, Louisville; Luke Hancock, Louisville; Chane Behanan, Louisville Final Four most outstanding player: Luke Hancock, Louisville Game summaries National semifinals National championship Louisville defeated Michigan 82-76 in the championship game. The win gave Louisville its first championship since 1986, and third overall. It became the eighth school to win at least three championships. Head coach Rick Pitino became the first coach to win an NCAA championship with two different schools. Michigan fell to 1-4 all time in championship games (including two losses vacated because of sanctions against the university). Michigan's Trey Burke scored seven quick points to get Michigan out to a 7-3 lead, but also picked up two quick fouls and sat much of the first half. With Burke on the bench, Michigan got a spark from freshman Spike Albrecht, a minor role player during the regular season. Albrecht hit four straight 3-pointers in route to a 17 point first half performance, easily surpassing his previous single game best of 7. Louisville trailed Michigan 35-23 late in the first half, before going on a run fueled by four straight three pointers by Luke Hancock. At halftime, Michigan lead 38-37. The second half featured several lead changes before Louisville pushed the margin to 10 on a three-pointer by Hancock with 3:20 remaining in the game. Michigan fought back, closing the gap to four points in the last minute, but ran out of time in their comeback effort. Hancock hit all five three point shots he attempted in the game and led Louisville with 22 points, while teammate Peyton Siva scored 18 and had a game high 4 steals. Chane Behanan pulled down 12 rebounds to go with 15 points. Burke led Michigan with 24 points. Russ Smith, Louisville's leading scorer, struggled in the game, shooting 3-for-16. Hancock was named as the game's most outstanding player. Other events surrounding the tournament On May 10, 2012, the NCAA announced that as part of the celebration of the 75th Division I tournament, it would hold all three of its men's basketball championship games in Atlanta. The finals of the Division II and Division III tournaments will be held at Philips Arena on April 7, the day between the Division I semifinals and final. Media Television 2013 marked the third year of a 14-year partnership between CBS and Turner cable networks TBS, TNT and truTV to cover the entire tournament under the NCAA March Madness banner. CBS will air the Final Four and championship rounds for the 32nd consecutive year. Studio hosts *Greg Gumbel (New York) *Ernie Johnson Jr. (New York and Atlanta) *Matt Winer (Atlanta) Studio analysts *Greg Anthony (New York) *Charles Barkley (New York) *Seth Davis (Atlanta) *Doug Gottlieb (New York) Gottlieb will not be in studio for the second and third rounds *Kenny Smith (New York) *Steve Smith (Atlanta) Announcing teams *Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg/Steve Kerr/Tracy Wolfson Kerr joined Nantz and Kellogg during the First Four, Final Four, and National Championship games *Marv Albert/Steve Kerr/Craig Sager *Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Rachel Nichols *Kevin Harlan/Reggie Miller/Len Elmore/Lewis Johnson *Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Allie LaForce *Brian Anderson/Dan Bonner/Marty Snider *Tim Brando/Mike Gminski/Otis Livingston *Spero Dedes/Doug Gottlieb/Jaime Maggio Radio Dial Global Sports (formerly Westwood One) and SiriusXM have live broadcasts of all 67 games. First Four *Brad Sham and Kyle Macy – at Dayton, OH Second and Third Round *Scott Graham and John Thompson – Second and Third Round at Philadelphia, PA *Kevin Kugler and Jamal Mashburn – Second and Third Round at Lexington, KY *Dave Sims and Kevin Grevey – Second and Third Round at Salt Lake City, UT *Wayne Larrivee and Reid Gettys – Second and Third Round at Austin, TX *Kevin Calabro and Will Perdue – Second and Third Round at Kansas City, MO *Gary Cohen and Pete Gillen – Second and Third Round at Dayton, OH *Ted Robinson and Bill Frieder – Second and Third Round at San Jose, CA *Tom McCarthy and Kelly Tripucka – Second and Third Round at Auburn Hills, MI Regionals *Ian Eagle and John Thompson – East Regional at Washington, DC *Kevin Kugler and Pete Gillen – Midwest Regional at Indianapolis, IN *Brad Sham and Fran Fraschilla – South Regional at Arlington, TX *Wayne Larrivee and Bill Frieder – West Regional at Los Angeles, CA Final Four *Kevin Kugler, John Thompson and Bill Raftery – Atlanta, GA See also * 2013 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament * 2013 NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Tournament – final also to be held in Atlanta * 2013 NCAA Men's Division III Basketball Tournament – final also to be held in Atlanta * 2013 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament * 2013 National Invitation Tournament * 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament * 2013 College Basketball Invitational * 2013 Women's National Invitation Tournament References External links *NCAA men's basketball Category:NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournaments